Still, when Stokes’ hamstring injury ruled him out of this Sri Lanka series, England were correct to turn to Pope.
As a leader, he has done a fine job. In both Tests, at Old Trafford and Lord’s, there have been times when the conditions were benign, batters set and the bowlers in need of inspiration. Pope has had to think hard to come up with plans to find wickets. He can do no more than have two wins from two Tests, albeit if a 100% failure rate with the DRS system needs some work.
Inevitably, a new captain’s performance with bat or ball will also come under scrutiny. You are still in the team to score runs or take wickets and, often, a skipper will experience a spike in their output.
That has not been the case for Pope, who has contributed just 30 runs in his four innings as captain. The problem for Pope is not the lack of runs, but the way he has been getting out and how he has looked at the crease, neither of which have been different to how he batted before the captaincy came along.
Pope’s position at number three is suited to a calm personality because of the range of different situations a player can find themselves in.
Pope, though, does not give off that feeling of calmness. Everything seems jittery, frantic and rushed.
At this point, I should say that the game is littered with lots of successful players who arrived at the crease as a ball of energy. Kevin Pietersen was famous for a ‘Red Bull run’ at the start of his innings and, back when I was playing, Derek Randall would come to the middle chatting away. As a bowler, I was always told not to say anything to Derek, because a conversation would calm him down.
